Pocho

Jose Antonio Villarreal here illuminates the world of the "pochos," Americans whose parents came to the United States from Mexico. Set in Depression-era California, the novel focuses on Richard, a young pocho who experiences the intense conflict between loyalty to the traditions of his family's past and attraction to new ideas. Richard's struggle to achieve adulthood as a youth influenced by two worlds reveals both the uniqueness of the Mexican-American experience and its common ties with the struggles of all Americans - whatever their past.